Surface condenser



Apr. 10, 1923. 1,451,334

A GINABAT I SURFACE CONDENSER Filed May 3, 1921 5 sheets-sheet l A GINABAT SURFACE CONDENSER Filed May 5, 1921 5 sheets-sheet 2 Apr. 10, 1923.

ya f 0 Mam Mi W H MM 5 Apr. 10, 1923. 1,451,334-

A. GINABAT SURFACE CONDENSER Filed May 5, 1921 sheets-sheet 5 orizopfal W a A M M WW Patented Apr. 10, 1%23.

ANDRE GINABAT, or rams, FRAME.

SURFACE CONDENSER.

Application filed May 3, 1921. Serial No. 466,481.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known: that I, ANDRF] -GINABAT, of Paris, France, a citiren of the Republic of France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Surface Condensers, ofwhich the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to condensing apparatus of the surface type in which the condensation of a fluid or of a vapour produces, by transfer, of heat, the elevation of temperature of another fluid separated from the first one by a metallic wall. Such are for instance the surface condensers of steam engines and turbines.

In these apparatus the transfer of the heat of the steam to be condensed to the circulating water takes place across the walls of numerous tubes constituting a tubular system, the phenomenon of the condensation taking place in a vessel where a vacuum is or is not maintained.

The position of the tubes in the tubular system and their relative disposition are i not a matter of indifierence as far as a good thermal eiliciency of the apparatus is concerned. Experience shows that the dripping of the water due to the condensation on the upper tubes considerably diminishes the efficiency of the condensing surface of the interior tubes upon which it falls; it is known moreover that the coetficient of transfer of heat of the steam to a cold and nearly dry wall has a much higher value than when a layer of liquid bad conductor of heat exists between the steam and this same .wall.

The present invention is based on the above considerations and has for its object the production and the maintenance of a high efficiency for the whole of the condensing surface of a system of tubes. by aiming to secure the following results which may be obtained simultaneously or not 1. Considerable reduction of the dripping.

2. Suppression of the dripping.

Referring to the drawings filed herewith:

F igs. 1 and 2 are sections of the tubular system illustrating the usual arrangement of tubes in surface condensers, showing the manner in which dripping takes place.

Fig. 3 is a similar section showing the improved arrangement of tubes according to this invention, showing the reduction of wet area.

Fig. 4 is a siinilar section'showing one method of carrying out the invention in a tubular system.

Fig. 5 is a similar section showing another method of carrying out the invention, with clearances or free spaces.

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section of a surface condenser with inclined tubes.

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of one of the tubes of Fig. 6, on a large scale.

(1) The drawbacks of the dripping are considerably diminished by reducing to a minimum the extent and the duration of the contact of the liquid drops (due to the condensation of the steam at the contact of the tubes in which circulates cooling water) falling from the upper tubes, with the surface of the tubes on which they fall.

In the ordinary condensers the rows of tubes are, some horizontal, the others vertical (Fig. 1) or else; the horizontal rows are arranged as showtikin Fig. 2 where the axes of the tubes osl py most often the apices of an equilateral triangle.

- These two arrangements are equally defective; in both .cases tubes are placed two by two directly one underneath the other, so that the drops from the upper tube fall entirely on the upper generating line of the corresponding lower They spread on the latter and, thewlrole speed of their fall being practically destroyed, they form all round it a persisting and insulating film.

The present inventien obviates this drawback. To this endg-the tubes of the system are arranged as shown in Fig. 3, that is in such a way that a vertical from the center of each tube is practically tangent at the end of a horizontal radius of the tube located underneath from the top to the bottom of the tubular system. It follows that the path of the drops of condensed water is represented by the line 0 d e f g and-that the surface of contact of each one with the inferior water along the arcs d e, f g, has for further advantage to facilitatethe thermal exchange between the condensed warm water and the circulating cold water; the coefiicient of transfer of the heat increasing as the square root of the velocity of the fluid in contact,

there is a further improvement in the thermal efliciency of the apparatus.

Lastly it does not matter whether the verticals 0 d, e f, defined above, are tangent to the right or the left extremity of the horizontal diameter of each lower tube; this tube can also be anotherone than the one immediately underneath. The principle of'the invention remains unimpaired.

As an example, Fig. 4 illustrates a portion of tubular system constructed according to. the geometrical and physical consideration just explained.

In this system, tubes of radius R are arran ed in such a manner that their centres are ocated in groups or" three on the apices of an equilateral triangle the side of which is equal to 3B, in such a manner that the oblique rows A B, C D so formed are inclined about 11 to the horizontal. It follows from this arrangement that any verv tical such as k 2', pamin'g through the center of any one tube of the "upper row is practically tangent to the end j of the horizontal radius j 70 of the tube of centre is situated on its right and at the end 1 of the horizontal radius m Z of the tube of the centre m situated on its left. This peculiarity has the following advantage: when, owing to a disturbing puff of steam, or owing to the rolling, for instance on board ship, the drop coming from the pointh happens to pass outside the point 7', and miss the tube it can only fall on the tube m in the region of point Z, that is ractically it will wet this tube only upon t e lower quarter of its circumference.

On the Figure 4, the dotted lines show the normal path of theliquid drops. If the rows of tubes A B, C D were inclined at the same angle of 11 to the horizontal, but on the other side of this horizontal, the course of the drops with this new arrangement would become symmetrical" to the former one with respect to the vertical.

It is very advantageous to utilize in the. same tubular system symmetrical courses of the drops, or, which comes to the same, to utilize the symmetrical inclination of the rows of tubes on either side of the horizontal. It is known as a matter of fact that in most of the condenser tubular systems clearances are provided, that is,'spaces free from tubes, with the object of directing the steam to be condensed and to distribute it through the system of tubes in the most uniformly possible manner.

Figure 5 illustrates as an example a portion of a tubular system in which this arrangement is obtained. The clearances are the spaces A, B in which the general d1- rection of the steam is indicated by the upper arrows. Now, it is advantageous that the tubes should present their dryest surface 70 normally to that direction, that is, their surface most adapted to produce the condensation of the steam; it is suflicient to obtain this result to arrange the inclination of the rows of tubes precisely as it is shown on Fig. 5 where it is seen that the wet portion of each of them is in the opposite direction to the flow of steam arriving upon it.

Finally in the group of tubes situated between two consecutive clearances A, B it ea is possible to provide at the middle a space C free from tubes where the air accumulates, and gradually falls towards the outlet to the air pump.

(2) The suppression of the dripping is $5 obtained in inclining longitudinally in a known manner the whole of a tubular system (arranged as has been described above) at a certain angle to the horizontal: experience shows that the minimum value of this angle is 6. c

Fig. 6 illustrates this arrangement.

Fig. 7 shows on a larger scale one tube of the tubular system of Fig. 6, showing that the water dro s a formed upon this tube 1 gather along t e lower surface, cling to the tube owing to surface tension, and flow under the action of gravity and without ceasing to cling to the tube, in the direction of the arrow 12, until they meet the tubular plate or the nearest supporting plate.

The carrying out of the present invention has therefore for its result ItO increase in considerable proportion the efficiency of condensing surfaces; it is therefore of such a 1 nature as to considerably improve the efficiency of condensing apparatus and also of heating apparatus. It follows at once that in order toobtain the same results, it will be sufiicient to construct apparatus incomparably less heavy, less cumbersome and consequently less costly. It will even be-- possible to improve the existing apparatus which have proved to be insufficient by means of an easy and relatively cheap alteration, which consists only in the substitution for the tubular plates existing of new plates where the tubes will be distributed according to the principle of this invention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Let ters Patent is 1. In surface condensers of the tubular type, a disposition of the tubes by which a vertical line from any position on the axis of the upper tube of any pair is tangent at the end of a horizontal diameter of the lower tube of the pair.

2. In a surface condenser of the tubular type. a disposition of cylindrical tubes in which a vertical plane passing through the axis of a tube is tangent to the extremities of the horizontal diameters of two tubes situated, one on either side of the said plane,

- which last mentioned tubes are situated in vertical line from any, point on the axis of the upper tube of any pair is tangent at the end of a horizontal diameter of the lower tube of the pair, clearance spaces being provided in the midst of the tubular system.,

5. In a surface condenser of the tubular type, a disposition of the tubes-by which a vertical linefrom any point on the axls of the upper tube of any pair is tangent at the end of a horizontal diameter of the lower tubeof the pair, said tubes being located so that the centresof any three contiguous tubes are at the apices of an equilateral triangle the sides of which are equal to three times the radius of one tube. a

6. In a surface condenser of the tubular type, a disposition of cylindrical tubes in which a vertical plane passingthrough the axis of a tube is tangent to the extremities of the horizontal diameters of two tubes situated, one on either side of the said plane, which last mentioned tubes are situated in two distinct lower rows of tubes, the said tubes being located so that the centres of any three contiguous tubes are at the apices of an equilateral triangle the sides of which are equal to three, times the radius of one tube, and the rows of tubes being inclined" at an" angle or? about 11 to the horizontal.

7. In a surface condenser of the tubular type, a disposition of cylindrical tubes in which a vertical plane passing through the axis of a tube is tangent to the extremities of the horizontal diameters of two tubes situated, one on eitherside of thesaid plane,

which last mentioned tubes are situated in two distinct lower rows of tubes, the said tubes being located so that the centresof any three contiguous tubes are at the apices of an equilateral triangle the sides of which are equal to three times the radius of one tube, and the rows of tubes being inclined at an angle of about 11 to the horizontal, to the left and to the right s mmetrically. 8 In surface condensers o the tubular type, a dispositionof the tubes by which a vertical line from any point on the axis of the upper tube of any pair is tangent to the extremity of 'a horizontal diameter of the underneath tube of the pair, the tubes being arranged in groups, each group comprising two nests of tubes arranged so that the wet portions of said tubes of one nest face the wet portions of the other, clearance spaces being provided between the groups for the entrance of steam, said tubes being arranged in such amanner that all the tubes of the condenser have their dry faces turned towards the nearest one of said clearance spaces.

9. In surface condensers of the tubular type, a disposition of the tubes by which a vertical line from any point on the axis of the upper of any pair of said tubes is tangent to the extremity of a horizontaldiameter of the underneath tube of the pair, said tubes being located so that the centres of any three contiguous tubes are at the aplces of an equilateral triangle,- the sides.

of which are equal to three times the radius of one tube, the tubes being arranged in groups, each' group comprising-two nests oftubes in which the rows of tubes are inclined to the horizontal at an angle of apnests have their dry faces turned towards the adjacent clearance space.

In testimony that I claim the as my invention,

7 foregoing I have signed, my name. A ANDRE. GINABAT. 

